Mine-car.



J. E. RENSHAW.

MINE CAR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7, 1915.

Patented Mar. 14,1916.

UNTTED sTATEs `PATENT oFEioE.

JAMES E. nENsHAw,` or coALBURe, ALABAMA, AssieNonoE ONE-HALF To En MooRE, i 'f or BIRMINGHAM, *ALABAMA MINE-CAR.

`Specification of Letters' Patent.

`Amilcation led Iune'7, 1915. Serial No.` 32,798. y

To all whom 'it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JAMES E. RENsHAw, a Vcitizen of the United States of America, residingV at Coalburg,in the county of Jefferson and Statey of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mine-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in mine cars and more particularly to ,the construction of bumpers and couplings there- LOI'.

One of the most serious dihculties encountered in connection with haulage in mines is the tendency of the cars to jump the track on rounding short radius curves which are generallyto be found in mine track systems. Heretofore, mine cars'have been equipped with side bumpers but Ait has .been found that in rounding curves the engaging side bumpers exert a lateral thrust which tends strongly to derail the forward car and as a result of this many serious wrecks and accidents occur.

The primary Vobject of iny invention is to design a novel type of bumper which is peculiarly suited to mine cars because these do notv require to be reversed in use. To this end I provide the car at one end with a central bumper projection which has its forward end rounded on a convex curve and' provided with a coupling link mounted thereon. The other end of the car is also provided with a central bumper socket preferably formed by a platform extension having side walls which converge toward a central concave bumper socket designed to receive the convex bumper of an adjacent cark and provided with a. coupling pin adapted tov couple automatically with the link on the convex bumper.

A further object of my invention is to provide a novel means for protecting the bumperV ends from wear and also in meansy for guiding the coupling elements carried by the bumpers so that they will automatically interlock. Y

A further feature of my invention relates to the manner in which a longitudinal draft bar extends forward onto each bumper Vand is adapted to receive the coupling link and pin.

My invention further comprises the novel details of construction and arrangements ofV parts, which in their preferred embodiment,

i only are hereinafter illustrated, it being understood that my invention is capable of various modifications without departing from the spirit thereof. i

nal vertical sectional view on the line -ai of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is an end View of the con-Y cave lbumper end of the car.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings. Y y I have shown my invention applied to mine cars 1 which may be of any Vsuitable vtype in general use, but which, as shown,

have their bottoms formedl by three longitudinal boards 2 and 3, which extend the full length of the car body and .at one end proj ectl beyond'the car body to form what I term the `concave bumper end Yofthe car. Y

The side boards 2 in forming this end of the car have their outer ends, beginning at a point spaced vfrom the end wall of the car, tapering inwardly to the center boardV 3 which has its outer end cut t'o form a concave `socket 4. I protect the end of the' bumper extension or platform by providing a steelor malleable iron casting therefor having a vertical wall 5 which conforms to the shape' of the ends of the boards and which has an inturned topflange 6 which overlies the top edge of the bumper end. This casting is securely held to the bumper by means of vertical bolts 7 and horizontal leg screws 8, which latter are passed in through the' side'of the casting intothe boards 2. The casting o-pposite its socket l and on the flange -6 on each side thereof is provided vwith verticallyl rearwardly convergingguide flanges 9 which are spaced at their inner end and terminate opposite the adjacent end of the draft bar l0, which is preferably of the type that extends centrally the full length of the car bottom and stands ioo flush with the'flange 6. VI bolt or rivet on enter a socket 14 in the bumper platform. A filler block 15 is inserted-at the bend in bar 11 and the bar and block are `tied together and made fast to the draft bar and car bottom by bolts 16. rlhis filler block holds the outer end of the bar 11 rigidly in raised position above thedraft bar 10 and' provides a space for the reception of the control bar 17 for the pin 13. This control bar is preferably formed by an angle having its vertical flange 18 cut away except where it comes opposite the guide flanges 9. The bar at its inner end is pivotally mounted to swing horizontally on a bea-ring pin in a plate 19 bolted to the end wall of the car or it may be pivoted in any other suitable manner. e spring 20 engages the flange 18 and presses the arm 17 `normally outwardly against the near guide flange 9 as a stop.

'This spring is mounted on a guide pin formed by the outer end of a bolt 22, or in any other suitable manner. The coupling pin is provided with a cotter pin 23 disposed between the top and bottom members of the cage 2 and adapted to prevent its escape from the cage 12.

The convex bumper end of the car is formed by extending the center board 3 .beyond the car body proper and rounding its end to form a convex bumper 24 having a curve lcorresponding to substantially the curve of the concave bumper 4. If desired,

and in order to increase the depth of the bumper faces, filler blocks 26 and 27 may be suitably bolted below the extension ends of the floor boards and shaped to conform to the bumpers. The convex bumper is reinforced and protected by a metal plate having a vertical member 28 and a top flange 3() which 4laps over the side and end edges of the bumper extension and is made fast to the bumper by transverse bolts 29. The draft bar 10 eX- tends out to the flange 30 and has an angled bar 11 mounted thereon as at the other bumper end and provided with a filler block 15, such as has already been described. Thel bar 11, however, at this end ofthe car is notprovided with a cage, but at its forward end has a hole for the pin 31 which extends down through the bar and holds a coupling linlr 32 in position between the bars 10 and 11. with its forward end resting on the flange 30 and projecting beyond the bumper 24.

In operation, as the cars are moved together the link '32 will` be guided by the flanges 9 into engagement with the Vflange 18 of the pin controlling bar 17 and will move the latter inwardly against the actionv of its spring 20 until it passes from beneath pin 13 which 4will thereupon be free to drop through said bars and the incominglink 32 into the socket 14 and in doing so it will automatically couple the cars. When thus coupled the central convex and concave bumpers L and 24: are locked with the sliding play of a ball and socket joint and the bumper strain is transmitted ,as nearly as possible in the direction of the center line of the cars so that their tendencyto jump the track, due to short curves, is practicallyV 'eliminated It will of course be understood that the bumpers, can be variously constructed to accomplish the purposes and objects hereinabove described, and I do not desire to be limited to the detailed mannerl of forming the bumpers or protecting them which. l have described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A mine car ha ving at one end a narrow centrally disposed convex bumper having its outer end convexlyrcurved from side to side, and a concave bumper at the other end of the car having a narrow central concave socket having substantially the width of said outer end of said convex bumper and,

laterally bracing members connected to the Y car bodyand to said `concave bumper but forming no part of its bumping face, sub-r stantially as described.

i mining car haring at one end a bumperk platform which tapers outwardly from the sides of the car to a concave socket provided at its outer end and struck from a center in line with the longitudinal cen-- ter line of the car, and a metal wear platel which lines the socket and voverlaps the end end to forni a concave bumper, the sidey boards of the said-latter end of the bar being also extended beyond the car body and tapered toward the outer-edges of the concave bumper, and a metal reinforcing member adapted to tie said ends of the boards together'to form a wear plate for said 'concave bumper, substantially as` described.;

In testimony whereofl aliix my signature.

JAMES ERENSHAW;

litnessz Nonna WELSH.

VCopies of this patent may be Ob'tained'iforf've cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C. 

